To See from Where You Stand: Supply Chain Network Positions and Merger and Acquisition Likelihood

Drawing on the proverb that says “where you stand determines what you see and how you do”, this study examines the effect of a firm’s supply chain network position on its M&As decisions and further examines the moderating effects of financial slack and innovational slack on the relationship between a firm’s supply chain network centrality and its M&As likelihood. Secondary data from different sources spanning from 2010 to 2017 are collected and analyzed to test our hypotheses. We find that there is U-shaped relationship between a firm’s supply chain network betweenness centrality and its M&As likelihood. Moreover, we also find significant evidence that the financial slack and innovational slack of a firm will positively moderate the effect of a firm’s supply chain network position on its M&As likelihood. This study advances extant literature on the antecedents of M&As by identifying supply chain network as a critical antecedent of a firm’s M&As. In addition, this study extends organizational slacks and M&As literature by identifying financial slack and innovational slack as contingencies to a firm’s M&As decision, which is different from conventional literature on slacks and M&As."